I've been overweight pretty much my entire life. I've loved riding bikes since I got my first tricycle when I was about 4 and rode it up and down the alley behind my parents row house in Baltimore. Because I'm heavy, I pretty much came in last in every neighborhood race, whether on a bike or running. But this never stopped me from riding.
Fast forward about 51 years to this time last year. I had topped 300lbs when I discovered the ankle I thought I had sprained in August was actually a broken fibula. So I decided I needed to diet and I'm down 86lbs to 218 (at 6' 1" I'm still about 20lbs overweight but I'm no longer obese).
Here I am at 304 last October at the Cape Cod Rail Trail ride. Picture by [MENTION=55382]ScottRyder[/MENTION].
Sometime during the summer I heard there would be a race up a local mountain the end of September. Since I was climbing better, I thought, why not! So I began training on that very mountain since it is so close. Based on the times I was doing, I knew I would be in the back of the pack. But heck, I didn't care. Why not just have fun and enjoy the experience. I was certain others would be there to do the same.
Race day arrived. A few weeks before [MENTION=147177]BluesDaddy[/MENTION] decided to also enter, and we decided to be pair on C&V red Schwinns. He rode an '86 Super Sport and I was on my '71 Paramount. We were quite amazed by the seriousness of the racers. We seemed like the only two there to simply "participate." We were also only two of three riders on steel (we spotted a modern Richie Logic). Every one else was on Carbon, Ti and a few aluminum frames mixed in for laughs.
Well I was 83rd out of 86.
But--- at the midpoint I was dead last with no one in sight. This was the beginning of the really steep part and the final 3.5 mile push to the summit. As it turned out, I was able to pass and drop 3 riders on the way to the finish! Now that was a victory!
Here I am almost at the finish line.
